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Review of Reliance Broadband+ USB Modem

Published 2009/06/01 by Vinod

I bought a Reliance Broadband+ USB Modem a few weeks back. Before purchasing this, I tracked the Twitter for actual brand/product reviews by owners. People were talking pretty positively about this and that was a welcome change after their Wi-Max debacle.

Reliance Broadband+ USB Modem

The product (Huawei EC 168 C / EV-DO Modem) was delivered the next day of booking online – by paying Rs.3500/-. But the activation needed couple of days more for the mandatory ‘address verification’ and such. Overall the Service activation period was very satisfactory. The product literature indicated support for both Mac and Windows. But the one-time ‘Activation Option’ was not available on the Mac support software. I had to do it using the Windows XP through VMWare. After this, the device was readily usable natively on Mac.

Reliance Broadband+ Windows Dashboard

The device is easy to pocket and is very rugged. There is also an extended USB cable in-case you are using it with a USB-Hub. The device has it’s retractable USB connector which is very convenient. There is also a MicroSD-Card slot which makes it a pen drive too. There is a small opening with a latch on one side – of which I have no idea!. The device is plug n play on both Mac and Windows.

Reliance Broadband+ Mac Dashboard

Once the settings have been fed the right numbers, further connections are just one-click. To get connected it normally takes about 10 seconds. The device is capable of working in CDMA 1.x mode in low coverage areas & regular high speed HSD option in good coverage areas. The device is set to ‘Hybrid’ mode by default.

The speed of HSD connection varies between 800kbps to 2Mpbs (average) – sometimes spiking to even 2.3Mbps in good coverage areas with more than 3 signal bars. But DNS lookups fail when it switches from HSD to CDMA 1.x, making me unplug and reconnect again. Thankfully this is not a frequent problem. You can watch YouTube videos / Apple iPhone tutorials etc.. comfortably. Apart from HTTP, other protocols like IRC, SSH, FTP etc.. too worked well. But the upload speeds on all occasions has been dismal. The above picture shows some of the weakest download day scenario.

I opted for an in-city tariff plan, because Airtel EDGE/GPRS on the iPhone is enough to check emails on the move. The Broadband+ USB device’s HSD connections are expected to work in all major cities and CDMA 1.x will be available almost everywhere in India. You can check the bandwidth usage live on their website. Over there you can also opt for a simple e-Bill to save on paper and post. The broadband bill can be paid online using bank gateways / credit cards.

To conclude, I will recommend this Mobile Broadband device to users in Bangalore. But as a word of caution, please do ask the sales agent to come to your home area to do an actual performance & coverage demonstration. This will give you a first hand personal experience before the purchase.

46 Comments

Thanks for the info.
I have a small query…
wanted to know whats the difference between the various devices available with Broadband+ (ZTE AC 8710 vs Huawei EC 168 C vs Huawei EC 1260) and which one is best among them.

Also, do these device support 3G, so that in future when 3G comes, can we utilize the benefits of 3G?
Also, can we use this device with other service provider (if we dont like the services of Reliance)?

Hi Vibhav: Myself and Most of friends use only the White One (EC 168C) – which is working without any issues. I’ve heard that EC1260 was having some reception issues. The Big One (ZTE AC871) is not so portable as the USB ones. Because of its form factor, ZTE may have better signal reception.
It is not possible to use these devices as a 3G Modem because CDMA’s EVDO is based on a completely different network/technology. You will have to stick with Reliance as long as you use these.

I was told by your people that , after purchasing RELIANCE netconnet brodband+ prepaid modem I can change my plans from prepaid to post-paid. And now they are saying now sorry you can’t do this.

I’m felling like I’ve been cheated.

YOUR OWN RELIANCE netconnet brodband+ ALSO CAINTAINS FOLLOWING LINES.

“after 30 days or consumption of 10 gb data (whicheve is earlier) you can choose from any of the below mentioed below prepaid plans or walk-in to RELIANCE world / RELIANCE mobile store and migrate to a post-paid plan of your choice.”

Hi All,
I also using the same product that is Reliance Broadband+ Huawei EC 168 C or Huawei EC 1260, not sure, but i would like to know, what incomming ports is open on the device. if some specific port need to be open, How do I.

Hi, I am using EC 1260 with windows 7. Initially i faced problem to run the application on windows 7 but later i found a backward compatability option in windows 7. Just go to properties of “C:\Program Files\Reliance Netconnect – Broadband+\Reliance Netconnect.exe” file and change its compatability to run under windows XP sp3. It will work fine with out any issue.

I am using Huawei EC1260 on Windows 7 Ultimate from last 20 days around and Its working fantastically on my machine. I don’t feel any issue of disconnection or anything.I am using it in Gurgaon and its working great. Thanks

Hi
I have installed Windows XP professional with service pack 3 and trying to connect to internet with Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ EC1260 modem, but the application is not opening and giving an error as “Reliance Netconnect.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” I have tried to follow the above advise and change its compatibility to Windows XP SP3,” but unfortunately there is no “Windows XP” listed under the compatability list. The same modem connecting and working fine with Windows XP SP2 system. Can I have some more suggestions to sort this problem….Thank you..

I DONO HOW YOU PEOPLE ARE USING THIS EC1260 RELIANCE WIRELESS BROADBAND. WITHIN 10 DAYS OF THE PURCHASE, I CALLED SO MANY TIMES FOR THE CUSTOMER CARE. THIS IS NOT HAVING ANY RECEPTION EVEN IN PRIME LOCATION LIKE ADYAR IN CHENNAI. EVERY 5-10 MINS THIS GETS DISCONNECTED, WHEN I AM IN ANY IMPORTANT WORK, MY VPN GETS DC BCAS OF THIS. I AM BUGGED UP AND SO WORRIED THAT I HAVE WASTED 3500. LET ME KNOW IF ANYONE HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM AND GOT IT RECTIFIED.

Hi Vinod and thanks for the review. I’m thinking of purchasing a Huawei EC 168. Do you have any idea if it works under Linux. I believe most Huawei devices do but I haven’t seen anything about this one. Can you tell me more about the device – any problems or irritations etc… Thanks a lot, David

Hi,
I too faced many problems to make it work on Snow Leopard but succeeded with minimal issues.
You have to download the latest driver and then install the dashboard but remember to install the Reliance Netconnect application provided during the dash board set up. Don’t use MobileConnect/MobilePartner suggested in the web pages.

Hi,
I have purchased Reliance broadband+ a week back and found lot of difficulties in making it work in my MacBook Pro with OSX 10.6.2(Snow Leopard). The driver provided with the device is not installable in this version of mac. With lot of googling, I found the latest drivers from Huwei and installed it. Now the datacard is connecting, but not sure if it’s in 1x, Broadband+ or Hybrid mode because I cannot open Reliance netconnect. The reception was reasonable for a week, but now started disconnecting every half an hour.
Overall, I am not happy with this because of unavailability of support for OSX.

Has anybody faced the same problem?
Are you able to change the connectivity mode(1X/Broadband+/Hybrid)?
Is the Dashboard available is working? I downloaded it from many links, but it’s corrupted and can’t unzip.

I purchased the reliance broadband+ connection in the last week of december, 2009. Its Huawei EC1260 USB modem (Black). My laptop hangs as soon as I connect with the device and i have to restart my system atleast once before i could continue working on the internet without any disruptions. I am using an HP dv7 laptop with vista home premium.

hi guys,
I’m using reliance broadband EC 1260 with Mobile Partner and nice thing about mobile partner is you can even change network mode to hybrid, EVDO or CMDA.
I have snow leopard 10.6.2 with mac book pro.
Shankar

hi ! I am college student . I purchased Reliance net connect brodband+ with 10GB free usage . I really like the browsing speed & also download speed but monthly plan is not offerdable for student. I think reliance have to make some services for student like call conference , Internet ser. in cheap value than company really get his success in Indian student mind. I am waiting from company replay for lunch some ser. for student. Good luck Reliance………………….

HOW I WISHED I HAVE taken tata indicom … reliance broadband customer services let me down ..

when i first ordered online, immediately after 24 hour they got back to me and asked me which one i want and i ordered Huawei EC 168 C but the time when i got it i got Huawei EC1260

and instead of charging me 2299(the price written on the net) they charged me 2500

they told me they would give me a goa trip ticket but till date haven’t got it (exactly a month now)

i took the 10 GB day and 10 GD night plan which orginal price was 1400 but they said to give discount of 200 but then i got a half month bill without my knowledge (my usuage was just 800 MB)

and instead of charging me from the day of activation , they charge me from the date of delivery.

and to make the matter worst everytime i called them up they said they have process the request and handle the situation as soon as possible … but without giving me a time frame … now it’s been more than a week.

for those of you who want to take reliance broadband , please think twice !

from a frustrated reliance customer

(if the problem isn’t attend i think i have no choice but to switch over to tata)